stick around for chuck. >> is this the week the 2012 election begins? mitt romney has the math and the endorsements. the sometimes roller coaster primary seems to be coming to an end. rick santorum hasn't gotten the memo. if romney is the presumptive nominee, why do we care about the primary? it's because the badger state is ground zero and i use that phrase not lightly here for the debate over the role of government. power of labor and business and taking a deep dive into the petri dish this morning. our cable exclusive and former president bill clinton weighs in on 2012 and what hillary clinton's plans are for 2016 and whether the comparisons to him and mitt romney struggles

work. >> but i never had to change anything i said in the primary. there was no etcha sketch issue for me. >> this is "the daily rundown" and i'm chuck todd. let's get to the first reads of the morning. without much fanfare, the general election began. the battle between mitt romney and president obama is taking shape. it's kicked off with outside groups. a multimillion-dollar ad war funded by a group and on friday the american energy alliance is a group that ties to the koch brothers. they pay $3.2 million ad campaign hitting the president on high gas prices. the $9 gas ad is running in eight states. colora colorado, florida, nevada, new mexico, virginia and michigan.

here's a piece. >> since obama became president gas prices have nearly doubled. obama opposed exploring in alaska and give millions to is solyndra. we need to boost the price to the levels in europe. that's $9 a gallon. what does he care? >> i don't own a car at the moment. >> this morning president obama's super pac priorities usa action is launching a counter attack with the response ad in the same eight states, but with not nearly the same amount of money. here's the response. >> who is behind this ad smearing president obama? big oil, that's who. the money they make from high gas prices is going right into mitt romney's campaign. these guys all profit. you pay the price. >> they won't disclose the ad buy, our ad trackers will know

how much money is really behind this. we can't match them dollar for dollar because they don't have that much money. they had that much trouble raising money. moving on, campaigning in wisconsin ahead of tuesday's primary, romney himself gave a new title to himself. the presumptive nominee. >> this president can't run and he will try in every way he can to divert to another attack and try to have people disqualify our nominee which will probably be me. >> team obama is not waiting for romney to launch that attack. biden sharpened the argument taking on the trail for a week. this time on national television. that's what he said about romney and cbs. >> i think he is out of touch. i can't remember a presidential candidate in the recent past who seems not to understand by what

he says what ordinary middle class people are thinking about and are concerned about. >> biden suggested romney is out of his depth, calling the attack on the hot mike moment incredibly revealing. romney criticized obama for telling russian president we would have more flexibility on missile defense after the election. >> speaking of flexible, governor romney is say pretty flexible guy. he just teseems to be uninforme or stuck in a cold war mentality. what the exchange did is exposes how little of the governor knows about foreign policy. >> meanwhile, romney is getting more surrogates of his own. mitch mcconnell all but endorsed him yesterday. >> i think that the chances are

overwhelming that he will be the nominee. it's time to turn attention to the fall campaign and make the case against the president of the united states. >> if there was any doubt that republicans are chloeing ranks behind romney, ron johnson said on "meet the press" to endorse romney and announced that he will be the point person in the senate to coordinate messaging with the romney campaign. >> i'm looking forward to working with governor romney and his team in my new role. i have been asked by leader connell to coordinate our agenda and message in the house and senate with the presidential candidate. >> interesting for the tea party favorite. one of the favorite senators in 2010 to play point person for somebody who is the republican nominee who is decidedly not a tea party republican. meanwhile, romney is pivoting to the general election and down by

double-digits to obama by women in skey states. he is starting to go public. >> we have work to take our message to the women of america to understand how we will get good jobs and have a bright economic future for them and their kids and the distortions that the democrats 3 in are clarified. >> from our polling to abc post polling to the gallup numbers and we know some parts fluctuate a lot. they have one thing in common. there is a massive gender gap. while claiming nothing changed, they are doing their best to invent new benchmarks to rationalize presence in the republican race. while romney is promising they will win in wisconsin -- >> this was an uphill battle for me. now we are looking like we are going to win this thing. >> santorum is trying to move the goal post for himself.

>> wisconsin do-or-die for you? >> i don't think wisconsin is do-or-die. we have to win pennsylvania and we are going to win. >> i thought it was about wisconsin. it's down to a two-point lead for romney in the latest pennsylvania republicans and led by nearly 30 points a month ago, but santorum lashed out at that on sunday. >> the democratic act that terry madonna probably got more polls wrong than any person i know in the history of the state. >> good grief. while both continue to invent new analogies to talk about come back win they talked about romney's coronation is not a matter of if, but when. >> if firefighter nor romney gets that required number, without a doubt we will step aside. >> for governor romney gets to 1144 not counting by the way disputed delegates in arizona,

idaho, he will be the nominee. >> newt's way of trying to move the goal post and claim the winner take all position. as mitt romney brightens his aura with a serious of endorsements, rick santorum is trying to downplay the edge in wisconsin. >> one of romney's chief spokesman is trying to say this race is over? why is he spending $4 million in wisconsin. if there is no chance, why is he bothering? if it's over. >> live for us in milwaukee, there is a reason romney can spend money. it's not going to be wasted in the fall. you are saying you would notice that santorum is starting to get a little terse on the trail. how long are you going to stay

in the race? >> reporter: good morning. i think he is getting tired of the questions. you have to say to the santorum that april is going to be a long month. after the races in d.c., mare land and wisconsin, we go through a-week dry spell where there is no race until april 24th. that's a long time to keep momentum of any kind. what they are talking about is looking ahead. the problem is the current. mitt romney is holding a substantial delegate lead and they are talking about the contested delegates in florida and arizona, but mitt romney owns a sizable lead. is it insurmountable? we don't know. he has to farewell to make the caseo a lot of voters to continue supporting his campaign. yes, they are looking at pennsylvania, but so is the romney campaign and they are planning to go to pennsylvania to knock rick santorum out of the race for good. that is one way to do it.

>> ron, what is the bigger story as far as republicans are concerned? is it taking a back seat to the recall? >> the recall, people are excited about that on the democratic side and republicans are obviously trying to get energized to get the base out to support and with scott walker come june 5th, that will be the big deal and the campaign will take a back seat to that. depending on the result, that could have a lot of play in terms of what happens with president obama's campaign and mitt romney's campaign here. it will be an exciting fall here in wisconsin. >> that's for sure. ron, thank you, sir. next, t"the daily rundown" and cable exclusive. bill clinton's one on one with luke russert. mitt romney can't follow in his come back kid footsteps. what he said about plans to campaign and fund-raise with

president obama. a look ahead at the president's schedule. a north american joint press conference. they are all doing the north american leader summit right here. lots of busyness with the three of them up there. one question apiece for each of the different delegations with all the translayings. that should take two or three hours. hi, i just switched jobs, and i want to roll over my old 401(k) into a fidelity ira. man: okay, no problem. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork. um...this green line just appeared on my floor.

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former president clinton is the don't democrat to be elected president price since franklin roosevelt. he sat down with luke russert to

share his thoughts on the health care debate and whether his wife is going to retire. luke russert is with me now. luke, you sat down and what is he up to? >> he was here in washington, d.c. for the clinton global university, an annual conference with college kid where is they come from all across the country and the world to talk about commitments to further society. kids come up with projects for folks to try to make money and you meet kids who are doing stuff about water and all sorts of things that are creating jobs here in the u.s. trying to get them employed and helping out fellow brothers and sisters. >> here is bill clinton's description. >> you talked about that this century was going to be the next great american century. can this deliver that great american century with ese terrible unemployment numbers? >> first of all, that's not

their fault. their parents's generation did that. i think that what they can do is use their skills at social networking and use their access to the internet for crowd financing and getting substantial amounts of money in small amounts to start their own ngos and make a living doing good and start their own businesses in ways that were not available to their parents and grandparents. i believe as we come out of this recession and hiring picks up, they will be well-positioned to get the new jobs. i also think that they will be more self-reliant and more reliant on their informal networks to actually start small businesses and expand them. i think you will see a whole new

sector of entrepreneurialism spawned as a result of the internet. >> but first and foremost, he know he is a political junkie. do you get the sense he is following it? >> he is following it pretty closely. ironically enough the only other person that had these high negative ratings was bill clinton in spring of 1992. the same that mitt romney has. >> here's what he said about that. >> the only person who has high negative rating at this time in his campaign was you in spring of 1992 and you were able to come back and you never trailed in the poll after july. can mitt romney do that? >> i doubt it. i doubt it for two reasons. first of all, i believe president obama will be reelected because people will perceive that the economy is getting better and we are

generally going in the right direction. keep in mind the 2010 electorate is not the 2012 electorate. more people will vote and a more diverse america will show up and people had two years of the tea party congress and the polls show they didn't like it very much. so he's, mr. romney has to deal with people's adversion to putting the presidency in the white house in the hands of a party they already don't like what they are doing in congress. the house in the white house. excuse me. secondly, i was subject to a very well organized attack that later the republican operatives associated with the white house admitted they started in the primary because they thought i could win the general election. there was this relentless personal attack and the american

people are incredibly fair and give you another look. but i never had to change anything i said in the primary. there was no etcha sketch issue for me. i have some sympathy for governor romney because he couldn't have been nominated defending the massachusetts law as a good model for the nation. because of where the republican primary had gone. . >> he started to make a case of why romney is going to get a seco look because all of them do. i bet romney was going to be a coordinated attack. >> on the health care law. too bad he cooperate run. it's a good idea. >> i love the history lesson he gave on health care. >> what's yo initial reaction to what you read from the court in last week. do you think the law will be overturned? >> i don't know.

it was an unusually politicized discussion i thought. i don't know knows about how well it's going to work because it's just now being implemented. i don't think it was unconstitutional in any way, shape, or form. even in the 1790s, there were mandat mandates. they had employees and they signed a bill mandating that able bodied citizens had firearms because they thought the british were coming again and trying to build the mandate that individual sea men have hospitalization insurance. to me, it's hard to take the constitutional argument seriously. i think there is more politics. >> john adams and get insurance. >> it's unbelievable and he is going harder at the argument than the white house seems to be comfortable doing. when it comes to bill clinton and questions always about

hillary 2016. here's what he said. >> you said back in september about somebody who is now the highest rated in terms of popularity which is secretary of state hillary clinton about her in 2016. if he wants to come home, i will be happy. if she wants to serve, i will be happy. she has to decide that. >> it's up to her. i don't think she plans to do it and i think that you will understand this in 30 years or so. hillary worked really hard for 20 years. it's just been a constant relentless thing. she wants to come home and get a little rest and do other things. she thinks she -- she told you and everybody else she thinks she will probably never run for office again, but i have been

there. i know what happens when you go through this decompression after years of relentless high pressure activity. i just think she needs to rest up and do some things she cares about and whatever she decides to do, i will support. >> that door is not shut. >> he is basically dictating to his wife, will you stop shutting the door. this is the way to leave the door open. that was fascinating. you asked him about simpson bowles. his answer was interesting. a little news with president obama. >> a lot of questions about what he was going to do. i tried to get him to say what states he was going to go to. he withstand to florida, but he will have three fund-raisers with the president and i'm sure they will be big money affairs and get a plethora of well-known donors. >> we know new york and d.c.

will be two, but where is the third? >> i would guess l.a., but i don't know. >> it wouldn't shock me if they throw florida in there. >> maybe miami. you go to his father in law's house. >> a terrific interview. the whole thing will be on the web later this morning. >> the best website on nbc.com. market run down is next and the obama administration's new plan to dress the crisis in syria. today's trivia question. name the last general election when wisconsin voted for a republican who didn't win the white house. the first correct answer gets a fall on monday from us.

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the stories i'm tracking this morning, hillary clinton met in turkey to discuss ways to end the up rising. in an interview with andrea mitchell, secretary clinton said the regime was under increasing pressure. >> we have agreed on not only more sanctions, but a sanctions committee. that was quite an accomplishment beuse this group consists of a lot of countries that are really the main stays of the syrian economy. we want to have a timeline. we don't want to give the excuse of being able to negotiate with no end. >> you can see much more of that interview on "andrea mitchell reports" at 1:00 here on msnbc. back here at home and one of the most closely watched senate races, scott brown and presumed democratic elizabeth warren in a

dead heat. brown has a two-point lead, well within the margin of error. sometimes you feel like the home time is trying to cook numbers back and forth. look at all the break downs. huge undecided numbers and less so with republicans. becky is here and what you got for me? a short week. >> a short week, but we will be here friday. friday is that jobs report. >> we still get jobs. still get the jobs numbers. >> the numbers are huge this week. you don't have a lot of movement ahead. we will open down by about 20 points and the first day of the second quarter. it's a tough act to follow. now that it's in the books, the dow was up and they were up 19% and that is official.

it's the best performance for the fishing e in over a decade. you have a lot of investors miing out on this and people are trying to figure out if you will see a repeat if there is more room to run. they continue if people who were on the sidelines decide to move into stocks. is that cody, the fragrances, the company is made a hostile offer for avon. the board turned it down and they bring it to the shareholders. this would be a $10 billion deal for the entire year to this point. finally i top the talk about burger king. they a changing the menu and bringing in ten new items and garden fresh salads and frappies and smoothies and crispy chicken strips. if you think about that, it sounds a lot like the mcdonald's menu. we are ready for the burger wars. >> i guess, but aren't they

number three now? a miami company? i grew up with burger king. i have to say, that's so 2007 to them. welcome to the 21st 7ry of burger king. >> you f you can't beat them, join them. >> up next, the real battle lines and how wisconsin became a petri dish in this ideological fight between the right and the left. bigger than e two parties and the big swing. what's fueling the president's battle ground bump and may not have anything to do with mitt romney. only on msnbc. and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us, but they never really listen... listen...it's not just some line item on a budget; it's what i'll have to live on... i live on branson street, and i have something to say...

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wisconsin's primary may be a prelude to a bigger fight brewing in the badger state. ground zero for the fight in the world of government. it's a big fight between big

business and big labor. governor scott walker laid the ground work pushing through a bill that ended the union bargaining rights earlier this month and sparked a massive union protest and they have pushed through the bill and on friday, election officials announced that nearly twice the required amount of signatures had been collected and the recall election would go forward in june. not only the governor, but a lieutenant governor and four other state senators should face a recall. one of them resigned. in the prime on may 8th, they decide who the candidate will be. the election is slated for june 5th. at stake is not only the governor's seat, but it's a balance of power in madison, but even more than that. the parties have an even 16-16 split, but the larger fight is between conservatives who like

to break the backs of labor and big labor who like to prove they are a force to be reckoned with. rick santorum joined a group of heavy weight who is talked about the dynamic. >> this state has now gotten the attention of the country because of it. because you had strong principal conservatives. you stood up and did the tough things. even though it was a brutal battle. >> let's not forget what we are about. let's not forget about the cheese head invasion under way. let's not forget about the people who were fighting for us on june 5th and not forget about this tuesday making our mark and getting ourselves ready and coalsing as conservatives and let's not forget about the american ideas that will run through wisconsin and the battle ground straight at willifiablely for the first time become red and help us elect the next president of the united states.

>> if you didn't need to know what the priorities were, he mentioned june 5th before april 3rd and before november. paul ryan a day after he endorsed mitt romney for president. he visited a phone bank for governor walker. the big vote is turning off independents. not to worry, november victories start with a win in june. when the governor is victorious, we will have a organization with four straight victories and that organization will be ready to pounce on the president with him in november. the remnants of a losing 2010 operation and special interest who support tens of millions into the state with nothing to show for it. the fact is he is saying what is

left unwritten in that memo, if the recall succeeds, republicans are going to write wisconsin off in the fall. anyway, who better to talk about the state of wisconsin politics than a native of osh kosh. the executive editor and fellow cheese head -- i'm a cheese head by adoption, but not a native of wisconsin. >> jim, i can't -- it's like i don't know even if i really did it justice with that preview. this is the battle of what the two parties stand for that is taking place in wisconsin. is that a fairway of saying it? >> it's a toss up for the presidential election and control of the senate which you didn't get into in the intro. this recall election that if successful will be a model. everyone else copies it. other places you have this

outside money flowing in. the influence of big money and outside money. wisconsin politics for the longest time has been polite. a mixed state with a lot of democrats and republicans in a tremendous number of voters. now all of a sudden it's very rigid and tons of the union money and business money flooding the airways and making wisconsin politics more toxic and that's hard to do. >> funny you say that, but that is the potential impact whate are seeing take place in wisconsin with the battle of outside forces, it's really business versus labor and walker and the democrats are the pawns. y i know that sounds demeaning, but we see the general election begin ove the weekend with attack ads on both sides paid for by outside groups. >> if you are a union official and for the longest time you had

dominance on the democratic party and you see your ranks shrinking which is what is happening for unions for sometime. you have walker come in with the huge republican majority that people didn't expect him to have and to clamp down on union rights in the public sector. that's why the money is poring in. everything becomes more likely elsewhere. they see this as the ultimate battle ground and the fact that they got to this point where you have a recall election where democrats have a decent chance of defeating walker, that would be huge and show unions across the country that still have cloud and juice. we can knock off a sitting gornor because that governor defied us. that's a big section of the party that has a lotf money and clout even if it diminishes overtime. >> this is a state that hasn't ted since 1988.

president bush got close a couple of times both as candidate bush as 2000 and candidate in 04. is it a swing state or only in november if essentially walker wins the recall and there is a demoralized labor base? >> it's a swing state. it definitely leans towards democrats but in 2010, a lot of conservative members win at the state level and ron johnson who is from my hometown, he is a conservative republican and able to tap into a feeling inside of wisconsin that you get away from theoast about this feeling that obama went too far too fast with the reach of government. privately a lot of the republicans that have endorsed walker, the critique of him is had he just educated voters and spent more time before he went for the holy grail, we might be as a party in a better position. that's why the republicans are frustrated. they had great momentum and great cloud.

they had the capacity that make 2012 more competitive if they didn't do what they thought obama did which was move too far too fast and spook voters and now they have to clean that up. they have to win the walker recall to keep the party and keep the momentum going. they have to somehow win back the independents who found ron joson's campaign compelling. par>> kgb, i'm sorry. he had like three full games with the packers? >> i don't think that's going to lift santorum to a victory. it looks good for romney. in the 7 to 10 point range. basically the robbery establishment of washington or wisconsin behind rney and working it. it's a very organized state right now. >> from politico, thank you, sir. >> have a good one. >> our panel joins me next to

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you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing things happen. to me, that's the membership effect. >> even in the race for the republican nomination, basketball is here. listen to rick santorum and newt gingrich rationalize why they are in the race. >> it's like telling kansas you are down by 18 points before halftime, give up. it's over. we aren't even at halftime,

folks. anybody want to call the kansas coach and say for the betterment of the ncaa, give up. >> kansas last night set the second record for coming from behind. they were down nine points at the half. i will take kansas at the half. >> the center for american progress and the deputy government editor and robert costa is with national review and a contributor to the kudlow report. >> ken tucky is supposed to win, but kansas gets lucky. i'm going to be kansas. >> there is a big swing state poll that is gallup. no national poll that we all follow and report fluctuates more than gallup, it seems. they have the president up nine points in the swing states. the only time they had him with a significant lead. they have somhing that every

other poll has shown. a gende gap. >> mitt romney has done well with women not only because he is doing well in the suburbs, but because he does well with women. >> it is, but my question s we all sit here and say mitt romney hurt himself, but women have been turned off by the republican brand right now. that's the bigger problem. >> but something he can come back to and ann romney is popular with women and she focuses on the economy. having her will be a big asset. he clicks with women on the trail. he has a business message and he's a soccer dad persona. >> prescribing what romney has to do, but how much work does he have to do? >> a steep uphill climb. the republicans have looked like they have a whole agenda that is out of step with younger women particularly. if you see the big movement,

it's women under 40, under 50, who made a massive movement over to the democratic party. that's the contraception debate and planned parenthood attacks. women waking up and realizing that the republican party has a social agenda that mitt romney has backed 100% that is against the interest of women. the challenge is, they are looking at a situation that we looked at 20 years ago. >> is this silence to you backing it? is it the silence that you are getting at? >> when a radio talk show host attacks women as a slut and you say i would use different words, women heard that in an important way. >> he's not. >> that's a big help. >> she getting penalized. >> i'm not sure, but the democrats can say romney has problems, but is thi about social issues or economic and social issues? >> there you go. >> they will make darn sure that every woman knows that part of

the debate. i think you have a point. romney has not been as strong as santorum. he can walk away from some of it a little bit. he has remarks that are not as extreme. he didn't sign the pledges that some of the person who would pledge and some of the things he didn't do. he is not tagged with those. this admistration is very good at their messages and make sure every woman is reminded about that part of the debate. our poll showed 75% of americans want no talk about birth control. that's not what this is supposed to be about. it was a mistake for the republicans. >> one part of the bill clinton interview tha i didn't get in. that was the response to the failure of simpson bowles in congress that i continue to assemble a massively undercovered story. >> what they oug to do

to reduce the debt burden on the next generation, you have to grow the economy, cut some spending and raise some money. no one siously believes you can get there through austerity alone. >> i go back -- i can't believe -- everybody says all the good things about simpson-bowles but nobody everen doriss it, why? >> clinton is trying to get a piece of that austery pie. the democrats don't want to give the republicans that -- >> fold that argument? >> exactly. >> i think the challenge of simpson-bowles for the republics was that it had revenue in it. >> why did democrats own it? >> the president's plan actually follows the framework of simpson-bowles. you could say it's different. >> but he refused to endorse -- you had tom coburn voting for it. why didn't he just own it? and why won't democrats own it? >> ihink at the time they

thought if they owned it, it would move much farther -- the goal pos would move. there were democrats on simpson-bowles who supported it and no republicans in the house supported it. >> if you owned it, whatever you want to own, it's going to move. so everybody wants to get to the left or the right. >> absolutely. and if -- simpson-bowles was the first one out. according to the white house, they didn't want to own et then because they had to flesh out ryan. >> it worked. >> stick around. i want to get a little veepstakes in. trivia time, we asked you to name the last general election when wisconsin voted for a republican who didn't win the white house. the answer? 1960, wisconsin picked richard nixon but jfk won the race that year. that year is known for another one in a swing state that didn't go the way of the winner, ohio. we'll beight back. you're watching "the daily

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bring back our panel. you write about why a former bush administration official is a good idea for mitt romney's running mate? >> look, he brings house experience. it would be like an al gore pick. midwestern roots, moderate temperate -- >> he was bush's budget director. is that a problem? >> yeah. i think the bush record would be bad. if i were them, i'd look for a woman candidate. but i can't imagine they'll do that. >> i wonder if they're going to have to have a policeman inside, someone from the right who really could be -- >> paul ryan looked good -- >> my bet is paul ryan. he would be my number one pick. >> reinforces the supply side

part of the party. >> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." but i forgot shameless plugs. >> campus progress are reporting out a report on voter suppression tactics. >> little talker, bloomberg story about six zip codes in new york. >> i saw it. >> fun. >> east side, west side. thjetsnd the sharks. >> nationalreview.com will cover the wisconsiprimary all day tomorrow. >> i'm going to see you back here tomorrow. i won't miss shameless plugs last night. coming up next, chris jansing. middle of the country very warm today. some thunderstorms late today. some of the big cities in the

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